Report: InfoGROUP set to be sold to New York equity firm

Omaha, Neb.—Database marketing holding company infoGROUP is in the final approval stages of being sold to New York equity firm CCMP Capital Advisors, the Omaha World-Herald reported Friday, citing sources close to the negotiations.

The World-Herald report said CCMP had submitted a top bid of $494.7 million, or $8.60 per share, a premium above the company’s current share price of $7.96.

InfoGROUP did not immediately comment on the report.

Vinod Gupta, the company’s founder and former CEO, who is no longer an officer of the company but still sits on the board of directors, has said he supports the sale of infoGROUP. Gupta owns 37% of the company’s stock, or about 21.4 million shares.

The World-Herald reported that the infoGROUP board will meet Sunday to approve the transaction.

InfoGROUP, which has about 3,000 employees, logged $499.9 million in revenue last year. It recently began a major reorganization of its 32 marketing companies to more closely align them with the infoGROUP brand. The company owns database and sales-lead companies infoUSA, Salesgenie, Walter Karl and Edith Roman, as well as e-mail service provider Yesmail and demographic research company Opinion Research Corp.